Thursday we drove into town and we all had lunch together at Sloppy Joe's, then we gave them a driving tour of the area. We had suggested they take the Conch Train to get a feel for the history of Key West and to decide what they wanted to explore, but they told us they didn't need a Conch Train tour after we showed them around. We are either really good or we bored them so much that they didn't feel they could take any more! We showed them some of the components of Naval Air Station Key West and yes, of course, we went to see the goats and lizards. There was a man inside the fence feeding them and he told us they receive only organic fruits and vegetables, although they also enjoy the cardboard boxes the food comes in. Seemed a little ironic that they eat the vegetation from a contaminated area but get organic food. The lizards also like the fresh produce.
We went to Boca Chica to show them where we are staying, then they bought a round of drinks at the little bar and grill here at the marina and we visited and watched F-18's and F-16's practice touch-and-goes. We took them back to town and enjoyed a drink and more good company aboard their boat Passport. Friday we invited them to join us for a barbecue dinner special here at Boca Chica and they turned the tables by buying our dinners.
Saturday Mary and John moved on and we drove to Bahia Honda State Park to attend a play the rangers there present about the coming of Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad and what it meant to the Keys. As this year is the hundredth anniversary of the first train, there have been lots of special events and exhibits. Here are Henry and his third wife, Mary Lily:
This young reporter is Ernest Hemingway, interviewing the engineer of the unsuccessful rescue train after the Labor Day hurricane of 1935:
Sunday we went into Key West and enjoyed the 100th anniversary parade. Monday we went to the Key West Public Library to hear Katharine Wright speak about her famous brothers, Orville and Wilber. The presenter stayed in character and was entertaining and informative. That evening we attended a presentation by a Florida and railroad historian and author.
There are some amazing sand sculptures here. In February we watched a sand artist over a series of days as he created a sculpture of Harry Truman, complete with eyeglasses. This one was commissioned by Lands End to grace the cover of their new children's catalog:
There are MANY boats here, both tied up to docks and anchored. Some of the anchored boats are abandoned or in such bad shape that they should be and most never leave their anchorages-thus the county's recent efforts to force them to maintain at least enough to pass a Coast Guard Auxiliary inspection each year and prove that they are pumping out their holding tanks in an approved manner (either going to a dock with facilities or hiring a pump-out boat to come to their location) rather than pumping raw waste overboard. The harbor is so busy that it seems impossible that so many boats come and go safely all day every day. We were watching this vessel come in, threading through other boats to its dock, when the captain made a small error-notice the information box is being tipped over:
Tuesday we rode our bikes 16 miles, adding to our usual route by taking a side trip to find the old roundhouse where trains were supposedly turned around for the trip back north. Information we had received at Bahia Honda State Park mistakenly states it is at the Casa Marina, the grand hotel Flagler built here. We were advised at the Casa Marina that the tracks ended on Trumbo Point, which is now part of the Navy and Coast Guard Base. This made more sense to us, as we knew this was where ships traveling to Cuba and beyond docked at the end of the train line. The sailors and coasties we asked knew nothing about any tracks and we rode around much of the base, trying to remember old pictures we had seen and decide a likely location. We located a fenced field that we thought would have been a logical place, but there were no tracks. We rode off base and back to town. While Mary was enjoying that delicious Cuban coffee, John asked a man stationed at an information booth outside the Flagler Museum about it. He told John that there was a "Y" to turn the trains around, not a roundhouse, and that the last buildings and tracks from the railroad were removed by the navy after being damaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
When we were in the local Ace Hardware store, we saw spray bottles of iguana repellant. The non-native lizards thrive here and like to munch on gardens and lawns. The paper also has an ad for pest control that features a picture of a iguana-not a problem we have in Shepherd!
When Mike and Lynn were leaving base, they took a wrong turn and discovered that what we had thought was an osprey nest is actually housing a pair of eagles. We now check frequently. Thanks for calling to let us know.
No comments:
Post a Comment